CHAPTER 6
Sakura
Two weeks since Hari and their noble guests returned to the capital, and Sakura already missed them fiercely. There was no one but her mother, the servants, and the guards for miles, and the servants and guards were off-limits.
The wind howled past the library window, rattling the shutters. Sakura felt the cold seeping in through the glass, but she ignored it and resolutely turned her attention back to the book on her lap.
She should have been scouring the lineage records of her nobles, hunting for a nobleman who might be willing to marry her. Perhaps studying legal matters, as she often had in preparation for her future crown.
But princesses didn’t beg noblemen for their company, and Mother refused to send invitations. Sakura needed a break from the worries she couldn’t solve, so she was buried in a treatise on her favorite hobby instead.
Increasing the mass of the counterweight worked to a certain point. However, the movement of the trebuchet appears to limit the amount of speed which this can generate. Instead, researchers moved to adjusting the sling length—
Footsteps sounded outside the library door. She hastily shoved a marker between the pages and stuffed her book between the seat cushions. Grabbing a dusty book from the wooden end table, she flipped it open to a random page, wincing when the teacup next to her crashed to the floor.
A footman appeared between the shelves. He bowed low, his straight black hair swaying forward while he waited for her to acknowledge him.
“Yes?” she said primly. No broken teacups here.
He straightened. “Please forgive the interruption, Your Highness. A man wandered out of the woods and collapsed at the gate, and the guards need permission to let him in.”
“Why come to me?” she asked, raising an imperious eyebrow. “Is this not a question for my mother?”
“Someone was dispatched to seek the queen as well, Your Highness,” he replied hurriedly. “But since the man is injured and half frozen, I was sent to find you in case you were closer. We need—we would like an answer as soon as possible.” He bowed again.
“Do the guards feel he is a danger to us?”
“He has a sword, but he’s in no shape to use it.”
Giving a sharp nod, she said, “Then have the guards strip him of any weapons and bring him in. If he proves trustworthy, we’ll return them later.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” The footman spun on his heel, then froze and executed a hasty bow.
Sakura waved him away. The servants needed to remember their place, but she didn’t want a man to die as a result.
After she returned her books to their shelves, she swept out of the library and aimed her steps toward the infirmary.
A man lost in the mountains during a snowstorm was likely a commoner.
But she couldn’t help being curious. They’d never had surprise visitors at the winter castle; it was too distant from the main road.
“Mother.” Surprised, Sakura stopped with her hand still on the infirmary door. Queen Arisa was standing near a cot with her hands folded demurely at her waist. “Why are you here?”
“One of the footmen brought me word of a stranger begging for shelter, and I came to interview him,” the queen said calmly. Her eyes flicked over Sakura’s attire. “Excellent choices today, my dear; you look lovely. Much better than the necklace you wore yesterday.”
Releasing the door, Sakura crossed slowly to her mother’s side. A young man lay on the cot, his cheeks sunken and his lips an alarming shade of blue. As she watched, he shivered violently, curling into a deeper ball under the woolen blanket. A nurse scurried over with a steaming mug in her hand.
“The water is almost ready,” she soothed, rubbing his arm. “You’ll warm up more quickly once we put you in the tub. Here, drink this; it will help.”
He cracked open a single eye. “D-does that require m-m-moving?”
The nurse smiled and set the mug on a nearby table before sliding an arm under his shoulders. She pulled him up a little and stuffed a pillow underneath him, propping him up. “Only if you don’t want me to spoon-feed it to you like a child.”
“D-don’t t-tempt me.” His lips twitched as he reached for the mug with a shaking hand. His arm and shoulder were bare; his clothes must have been soaked through.
It was a well-muscled arm. He was clearly strong enough to give her guards some trouble when he wasn’t suffering from hypothermia.
The stranger rolled onto his back and lifted the mug to his lips. Closing his eyes as the steam washed over his face, he took a slow sip. Then he opened his brilliant blue eyes again, and the full force of them landed on her.
Right before he spewed tea all over her dress.
Shoving himself to a sitting position, he reached out a hand. “I’m s-so sorry! I—” The blanket slid down his front, revealing a chest to match the arm. He cursed as he grabbed for it with his bandaged arm, sloshing hot tea onto his lap in the process.
Amusement pulled at Sakura’s lip. Not the most flattering reaction she’d ever received.
Clutching the blanket to his shoulder like an anchor in a storm, he glanced from Sakura to her mother and gulped.
Another shiver racked his frame, and the nurse put her hands on his shoulders and shoved lightly.
“Lie down, Keenan. You need to keep the heat in.” Her eyes caught on his visitors, and she dipped into a quick curtsy.
“Pardon me, Your Majesty, Your Highness; I didn’t notice you. ”
Queen Arisa smiled graciously. “You were busy with your patient. Do not trouble yourself over it.”
The nurse’s eyes widened in surprise. Sakura felt her own wanting to follow suit, but she walled off her response, maintaining her calm front.
The stranger was still looking between them as if trying to figure out how to bow while lying down. “Th-Thank you for giving me shelter,” he said. “And I’m s-sorry for spraying you with tea – I didn’t expect to see you there.”
Sakura withdrew a handkerchief from her sleeve and delicately dabbed at one of the damp spots. “If I’d realized my presence would be so offensive, I might have stayed away.”
His pale face grew yet paler. “I’m not offended,” he quickly assured her.
“Nor did I mean to offend. But I’m a simple Daric weapon-smith.
I expected you to summon me once I was back on my feet, not visit me in the infirmary while I’m—” His hand clutched the blanket a little tighter, and Sakura allowed herself a moment to appreciate the effect it had on his bruised forearm.
He might be common, but she enjoyed a fine painting as much as the next woman.
“Your surprise is understandable,” the queen acknowledged smoothly. “But we are not heartless, and you have clearly suffered greatly. How did you come to be injured? What happened to your companions?”
Keenan’s brows drew together as his eyes slid toward the shuttered windows. “I w-wish I knew. We lost contact with one several days ago. I was separated from the other when the bandits found us again.” Frowning, he turned back to the queen. “Wait, how did you know I had companions?”
“An educated guess,” she replied with a knowing look. “One could hardly expect a person such as yourself to wander the mountains of a foreign kingdom alone.”
He looked as confused by that statement as Sakura felt, if not mildly insulted by the assumption. Whatever his thoughts, though, he soon smoothed his expression into earnestness. “I have to find them. Would you be willing to send some of your men to look for them? Please, I’ll do anything!”
“Anything?” the queen replied. Her tone was mild, but her smile reminded Sakura of Bunta with a melon. “Of course; it will be my pleasure to aid you. Can you provide me with their descriptions and the last place you saw them?”
“I’ll do my best.” He grimaced. “But I was a little distracted on my way here.”
Sakura kept her eyes fixed on him as he described his companions and their route.
Why was Mother so willing to help? His short brown hair suited him, and she expected his face would be quite decent once he recovered from his journey and removed the fuzz from his jaw.
But he was clearly as common as he was foreign.
Sakura glanced at her mother. The queen looked the same as always, with her perfect posture and serene features.
But while Mother paid their servants a fair wage, she never went out of her way for them.
Letting a freezing, injured man enter the castle?
Certainly. But sending the guards to find a missing guardsman and shepherdess?
That was out of character.
Carefully hiding her concern behind her own unruffled expression, Sakura folded her hands at her waist and waited for Mother to finish. Vague suspicions did not justify any kind of action. With no more information, she couldn’t even judge what action might be appropriate.
Her eyes narrowed as their rescue brightened the room with his smile. No, she didn’t have enough information. Yet.
But if he was a danger to her family or her kingdom, she planned to find out.